


New Mexico

by viennasunrise (kteaanne)



Series: Earth-5486 [1]
Category: Marvel 3490, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Awesome Darcy Lewis, Darcy Lewis's iPod, Darcy Lewis-centric, Developing Relationship, F/M, Humor, Multiverse, New Relationship, SHIELD, Text Flirting, Twenty questions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-14
Updated: 2015-09-14
Packaged: 2018-04-20 18:05:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4797089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kteaanne/pseuds/viennasunrise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Studying political science was <em>so boring</em>. So when the opportunity to change gears and head out to sunny New Mexico with an astrophysics professor and her team came, Darcy jumped at it. She had no idea what she was getting herself into.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Mexico

“Where the hell is this place?” Darcy asked from the passenger seat. The map Dr. Selvig placed in her lap moments before made absolutely no sense. “I’ve never even heard of Puente Antiguo.”

“We’re not far from there now.” Jane replied, her eyes watering from the oppressive sunlight. There was something about the bleak geography that seemed to intensify how bright the sun was.

“That doesn’t answer my question.” Giving up, Darcy crumpled the map up and threw it behind her. “We’re in the middle of effing no where."

Dr. Selvig chucked from the back seat, “You’re not wrong there, dearie.”

Darcy turned toward the window, trying to find something more interesting than cactus and dirt but was disappointed. “We’re driving around the birthplace of the color brown. Why are we here again?” She asked exasperated.

“I’ve told you like a thousand times. We’re hear to study the Einstein-Rosen Bridge phenomenon in connection with reportedly strange weather patterns. If we figure this out it could change everything.”

Darcy rolled her eyes, keeping her gaze fixed out the window. “If you say so.”

As a political science graduate student, Jane’s astrophysics garble made less than sense to her; it was too abstract. Give her charts and poll data any day. But when Culver University assigned her to Dr. Jane Foster, Darcy put her thesis on pause for a semester and welcomed the change. She just didn’t know “change” meant moving to the desert in New Mexico where you probably couldn’t get a decent cup of coffee, let alone a good scotch.

* * *

 

An hour later Jane pulled up to what looked like an abandoned car dealership and parked the van.

“This is it. The university said they’d delivered the trailers earlier today. They must be parked around back.”

“Yippee.” muttered Darcy.

Either unable to hear the sarcastic comment, or intentionally ignoring her, Jane turned around, her face alive with excitement, “Let’s unload the van. Then we can get settled in the trailers.”

It took them another three-quarters of an hour to unload everything from the van and get the temporary lab mostly set up. Jane relented around 01:00 that sleep was probably a good idea, and the three of them disappeared into their respective trailers.

Darcy was wholly unimpressed. The trailer was rather small and felt way too cramped. Her bed was situated at the back, a little too short for a regular person but it would fit Darcy just fine. 

She ran back to the van and grabbed the two bags that she’d managed to cram full of her junk back in Virginia, and went to unpack. Fifteen minutes later Darcy collapsed on her bed, throwing an arm over her eyes, and passed out.

* * *

 

She woke up the next morning completely clothed and sweating to death; the tin can that was her trailer was doing its best to turn her into a rotisserie chicken in her sleep. She peeled her clothes off and hopped in the shower; if you could call it that. The utter lack of water pressure made it more like she was pelted with huge raindrops falling in an uneven pattern. She managed to dry her hair without much of an incident, threw on the first thing she grabbed out of her suit case, and flung herself from the trailer.

Jane looked like she’d been up all night, her hair was frazzled and her pony-tale lopsided. She was bent over a notebook when Darcy walked over.

“How’s it going?” Darcy said, stifling a yawn.

Jane jumped in her seat and turned to look at Darcy. Her eyes lit up, excitement etched on her face. “The answer’s here, Darce. I just know it. The weather pattern we’re here for has been recorded here for more than three hundred years with plenty of stories to go along that make me think we’ve finally picked the right place.”

The two set to work, Jane calculating complex equations and Darcy charting the solutions for later review. Dr. Selvig showed up around 10:00 and settled himself down next to Jane, the two of them got lost in a complicated “sciencey” conversation; Darcy only understood every eighth word. Most of the day passed without incident but around 18:00 Jane’s attention to her graphs was broken by a sudden, chilly gust of wind; a huge, green cloud had formed to their north. Jane grabbed her jacket and tossed the keys to Darcy, instructing the other two to follow.

Half an hour later they were on the edges of the storm when it suddenly changed directions and came strait toward them. Darcy panicked, she had very limited driving experience, and jerked the steering wheel away from the funnel.

“What are you doing!” Jane yelled over her shoulder.

“Saving our lives!”

Impatiently Jane reached out and jerked the wheel back toward the storm. The van rocked precariously, Darcy was convinced for half a second that they were going to tip over. Just as Darcy started to regain control of the van, the headlights fell on what looks like a man in the middle of their path. Jane panicked again, attempting to jerk the van away from him but it was too late. They collided and the man fell to the ground. Darcy slammed on the breaks and the van slid to a halt.

“I think that was legally your fault,” Darcy said to Jane as they rush over toward the man spayed across the desert floor.

“Get the first aid kit!”

Darcy ran back to the van, her whole body shook with the adrenaline of the last five minutes. She fumbled through the mess in the back of the van before finally finding the first aid kit and returning to the scene of the crime.

Jane was bent over staring at the man and holy crap was he hot. The words, “Does he need CPR, because I know CPR” fell out of her mouth before her brain could catch up. A moment later the man stood up muttering to himself before he started to yell up at the sky.

“Hammer! Hammer!”

“Yeah,” said Darcy sarcastically, “we can tell you’re hammered. That’s pretty obvious.”

Who-ever-this-guy was kept yelling up at the sky before he turned on the other three.

“You! What world is this? Where am I? Answer me! What realm? Alfheim? Nornhiem?"

And then Darcy pulled out her taser and shocked him. He fell to the ground with a satisfying crunch.

“What,” Darcy said in response to the look on Jane’s face, “He was freaking me out.”

* * *

 

“I don’t care who you work for you can’t do this!” Jane yelled back at the G-man standing in front of her.

“Jane, this is more serious than you realize. Let it go.” Selvig warned

“Let it go!” Jane said, the outrage plain on her face. “This is my life!”

“We're here investigating a security threat. We need to appropriate your…”

The mans voice faded off as Darcy walked away from the confrontation. Dealing with government officials and fighting over scientific equipment was not what she signed up for. The longer she was in New Mexico the less the six credits of internship felt worth it. She leaned against the back wall of the Smith building and tipped her head back, eyes closed.

Seconds later she nearly jumped out of her skin when someone standing far too close to her cleared their throat.

“I wouldn’t leave this around if I was you. Coulson’s on a rampage and I’m pretty sure anything that can possibly be considered electronic is going in the trucks.” He held out Darcy’s iPod.

“Thanks?” She said apprehensively, accepting the iPod. She looked at the man standing next to her. He had dishwater blonde hair and stark blue eyes; there was something comforting about him.

The moment stretched into something awkward and the man started to rub the back of his neck, dropping Darcy’s gaze.

“So who do I thank for gallantly saving my iPod from the clutches of the evil Coulson?” Darcy said.

“I’m Clint.”

“Nice to meet you Clint, I’m Darcy.” She held out her hand to shake his and he hesitated. For a split second he seemed to think better of it, but then he reached out and shook her hand.

He looked back up at her and smiled. “Whatever you do, don’t let Coulson realize you still have that. I can almost promise you he’ll come back for it. And, fair warning, he’s probably going to keep the three of you under surveillance for the time being so I’d close my blinds if I were you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She replied and, feeling brave, added, “Do I have to worry about _you_ peeping through my blinds?”

Clint laughed, “Maybe. Nothings been assigned yet. Maybe I’ll ask.”

Around the other side of the Smith building the engines of several black SUV’s started and Clint took that as his cue to leave. “See ya later, Darcy” he winked at her and took off around the corner.

Darcy walked back into the Smith building to an empty room. Jane looked like she had lost a child.

“Years of research gone!”

“They even took my iPod!” Darcy complained loudly.

“And your backups?” Selvig asked Jane.

“Look around! They took our backups. They took our backups of our backups!” Jane replied.

“I just downloaded like thirty songs on there.” Darcy added to the room at large for good measure.

* * *

 

Darcy spent most of the next hour consoling Jane. Apparently the loss of more than fifteen years of her research made Jane’s alcoholic side come out, which was perfectly alright with Darcy. She could hold her own if she wanted to.

The two sat on the roof of the Smith building, a bottle of scotch and a few plastic cups strewn around them. Between them they’d killed a bottle of wine and had started in on Darcy’s collection of scotch. Half a bottle down and Jane was barely coherent.

“And d’youknow what th’worst part’s?” Jane asked, dropping her solo cup.

“Enlighten me.” Darcy replied. She tipped her head back and finished off the contents of her cup.

“W’th Thor ‘round I might’ve had a shot at figuring. it. all. out.” and Jane threw herself back, arms splayed at her sides. A few seconds of silence later and Darcy realized Jane had fallen asleep. She started to clean up after them, several solo cups were threatening to roll off the roof. Finally able to think about something other than Jane’s catastrophe, she let her mind wander.

This time of year it wasn’t nearly this hot in Virginia. Maybe if she was there she’d’ve been able to bust out her boot collection. Come to think of it she didn’t bring any to New Mexico, that was stupid. It probably got really muddy when it rained. Maybe she’d have to find somewhere that resembled civilization and buy a new pair. But this stupid town was in the middle of nowhere, how was she expected to find a good place for a new pair of shoes? There was always the internet but, in his rampage, Agent Look-How-Important-I-am Coulson took her laptop. At least he didn’t manage to snag her iPod. Clint had saved it for her. Why did he do that? They’d never met before and he just decided out of nowhere to save her iPod from the clutches of some evil government agency which, if she was being perfectly honest with herself, not only employed him but probably trained him too. Where did they find a guy like that? He didn’t look anything like the secret agents she’d seen in the movies. To start with he wasn’t ten feet tall and he didn’t have the sex appeal of a Greek god. Not that Darcy didn’t find him attractive. She just hadn’t thought about it all that much. Although now that she thought about it… He was actually really nice to look at. The spandex outfit he’d been wearing didn’t leave that much to the imagination; his chest seemed chiseled and his shoulders were broad. He wasn’t 12 feet tall but, being shorter-than-average, she preferred that. The way his blonde hair stuck up was actually really adorable and his eyes were kind of the most amazing color of blue. She didn’t have a word to describe their exact color… Ice blue was too light but they weren’t as deep as say, ocean blue. They were too piercing to be considered the same color as the sky but they didn’t give her the impression of being x-rayed. Either way, she could have spent hours, or maybe several sun-lit days, studying them. It’s too bad he didn’t give her his number. Selvig was attempting to distract himself with complex equations that made less sense than Russian did to her and Jane was down and out-for-the-count. His loss, she thought.

Deciding it was probably time to get off the roof, she shook Jane’s shoulders and tried to wake her up enough to climb down the ladder. She managed to get one of Jane’s arms over her shoulder and propped her up with a hand around her waist, but Jane stumbled and they both went crashing to the ground.

“Everything OK up there?” Selvig’s voice floated up from the Smith building.

“Not really” Darcy said. The side of her face smacked the roof and she was pretty sure she was bleeding. Fortunately the fall seemed to sober Jane up a bit and they managed to climb back down to street level.

Selvig cleaned up the cut and bandaged it with the sparse remains of the first aid kit and then helped Darcy take Jane to her trailer.

“I think I need to contact a colleague of mine, Dr. Pym. He has more experience dealing with things like this. I should go email him.”

“They took your laptop, too.” Darcy reminded him.

He swore in Swedish, dropping his head in his hands.

“I think there’s a library down the street with free internet. You could try there.”

“That’s probably my only option. Stay here and let me know when Jane wakes up.”

“Yes, sir!” Darcy said, saluting the doctor.

* * *

 

Surprisingly Jane woke up just a few hours after Selvig left. The sun had started to set and Darcy had positioned herself back up on the roof to watch it dip below the horizon. She was idly fidgeting with her iPod when Jane plopped down next to her.

“Where’s Erik?” She asked, rubbing her forehead.

“He went to the library to send an email. Which is apparently the worlds longest email because he left like three hours ago.”

“Weird. Have you seen Thor?”

“He stopped by just after you passed out but didn’t say much. His eye’s got all big when he saw that all your stuff was missing and then he just took off.”

“Strange.”

“Exactly. Starting to see why I tasered him?”

“No. I wonder where he went…”

“So go find him. We both know you want to.”

“Yeah…” Jane said, her thoughts obviously elsewhere. She stared off into space for a minute before jolting back to the present and turned to Darcy, “I’m going to go find him. Don’t wait up.”

“It’s cute that you think I listen to you.” Darcy said with a smile.

Jane got up and stumbled to the edge of the roof. With a lot more effort than it should have taken her she made it down the ladder and hopped in the van.

A while later Selvig came back and called Darcy off the roof. She hopped down the ladder and noticed an enormous pile of books set on the table.

“What are these?” She asked, picking one up at random.

“I wanted to show Jane. That man is feeding her children stories and she’s soaking it up like it’s fact. She needs to see reason or this whole project,” he gestured to the room, “is over. Her job depends on this and she’s throwing it all away on some loon she hit with the van.”

Darcy flipped through the pages, stopping when she saw a drawing that looked an awful lot like Thor. “Holy crap.”

“Like I said, children’s stories.”

“Well, it’s not completely outside the realm of possibility that he’s who he says he is. Maybe his lot visited earth centuries ago and all of Norse Mythology came from that.”

Selvig stared at her, clearly at a loss for words. “You’re supposed to be the sane one here, Darcy. Don’t go to the other side…”

“Eh, I hear they have cookies.” She dropped the book back on the table and plunked down into a chair. Just as she got comfortable Selvig’s phone dinged, alerting him to a voice mail. He listened to it and a look of outrage overtook him. He threw the phone down on the table, grabbed his jacket and, without a word, stormed out of the lab. Darcy didn’t really know what to make of the situation but settled on listening to whatever it was that set Selvig off.

“…I kind of did exactly what you said I shouldn’t do.” Jane’s voice rang clearly through the speaker. _Great_ , thought Darcy, _now she’s gonna get arrested_. She should probably be more concerned but she hadn’t known Jane all that long and they didn’t have much of a relationship beyond a few sarcastic quips back and forth. Sure, they drank together, but that wasn’t exactly something Darcy needed a close friend for.

Lacking anything else to do, she headed back to her trailer and poured herself a glass of wine. She settled down on her bed, blinds up, and pulled out the first book she could grab. The Shinning stared back up at her, one of her favorites. She opened it to a random page and started reading.

Four pages later, movement outside her window caught her eye. She lowered the book and squinted toward the back of the Smith building. Clint was climbing up the side of the building to the roof, clearly trying not to be seen. She set the book down, turned out the light, and snuck out of the trailer. Clint didn’t look like he knew what he was looking for so she kept to the shadows and creeped around the side of the Smith building to the ladder and started climbing.

She expected to see Clint standing at the edge of the roof looking out over the town when she got to the top, but was disappointed with a completely empty roof. She walked over to where she last saw him and looked over the edge, trying to see if she could find him lurking somewhere else.

“Not as sneaky as you thought,” said a voice behind her.

She jumped around, reaching for her taser, but it wasn’t there. _Dammit_ , she thought, _it’s in the van_.

Clint was doubled up in laughter, barely able to breath.

Darcy glared at him. “You are such a little shit."

“That’s why SHIELD pays me the big bucks” he said looking up at her.

“You’re seriously lucky I don’t have my taser. That thing dropped Thor like a sack of flour.”

“I so wish I had been there to witness that.” He said, grinning.

“So now that we both know I’m awake and you’re lucky your not laying in a pile of your own pee, what, exactly, are you doing here?”

“I thought you could use some company. Your friend Jane is on her way back now though so maybe you don’t need it.” He shrugged, seeming indifferent.

“Well, she’s got bigger issues than keeping me company. You should stay.”

“Works for me” and he sat down, feet dangling over the edge of the roof.

Darcy sat down next to him, their knees only inches apart. Testing the waters, She looked over at him. “So ninja boy, what’s your story?”

He leaned back, arms tucked under his head, and stared up at the cloudless sky. “I’ve got a million. Which one do you want to hear?”

“Um… How about how you ended up working for a super secret government agency?”

“That’s a no go. Classified,” he said, saluting the sky.

“Well then I’ll settle for knowing basically anything else about you. All I’ve got is that you like to save iPods and your name is Clint.”

“I’m up for twenty questions.”  That was not the answer Darcy expected and she hesitated. “Um. Seriously? We’re making a game out of this?”

“You bet your ass we are.”

“Ugh. Ok,” Darcy said, rolling her eyes.

“Only yes/no questions and I’m going to keep count.”

“Spoil sport.”

“I don’t make the rules. That’s just how you play the game, Darce.”

“Ugh. K. Um… Do you live here, meaning New Mexico?”

“No.”  
“Good. This is a terrible place. Do you live in the U.S.?”

“Sometimes.”

“That is not a yes or a no. You’re cheating!”

“Sometimes is an acceptable answer. Read the rules.”

“How! You’re making them up as you go along, Cheater-mc-cheaterson!”

“I’ve never heard that one before."

“I’m nothing if not original.” Darcy said back flatly. “That’s still not a yes or a no.”

“How about both yes and no?”

“Whatever,” Darcy mumbled, “Do you have a hometown?”

“Sometimes.” Clint laughed.

Darcy rolled her eyes, “I give up,” she said and flopped back, laying next to Clint. “Um… are you a secret agent?”

“Yes.”

She looked over at him. He hadn’t moved an inch and was still staring up at the sky. “I was so not expecting the truth just then.”

Clint smiled. “That’s four.”

“Did you come back for my iPod?”

“No”, Clint laughed.

“Can I have my laptop back?”

“No.”

She glared at him, “I hate you.”

“I’ve heard worse.”

“Is Clint really your name?”

“Yes.”

“Is that what everyone calls you?”

“No.”

“So you have a nickname?”  “Yes.”

“What is it?”

“Now look who’s the cheater! I’m going to have to dock you a question for violating the rules.”

“This is stupid. Just tell me.”

“I’m afraid I can’t. Those are the rules of the game.”

Darcy growled at him. He looked at her, raising his eyebrows. “Am _I_ in imminent danger of an attack now?”

“Hey! You don’t get to ask the questions here. It’s my turn.”

He laughed, “12 down, 8 to go.”

“Do you have a partner in crime?”

“Yes.”

“Have I met him?”

“No.

“Can I meet him?”

“No. Five to go.”

“Do you always run around in black spandex suits?”

“No.” He laughed.

“That’s a relief. Do you have a girlfriend?”

“No.”

“A wife?”

“No.”

“… A boyfriend?”

“Nope.”

“Um... Do you know the muffin man?”

Clint laughed, “Nope. Never met the guy.”

Darcy laughed as Clint turned to look her in the eye.

“Gameover.”

“So what’s your nickname?”

“Sorry. That’s classified.” He winked at her.

“You’re the worst. Is that really all I’m going to get out of you?”

“For now. My turn.”

“Ugh. No. You can ask me five questions. Twenty takes too long. And nothing with a yes/no answer. That all was frustratingly vague. Now I have more questions than I started with!”

Clint laughed, “it’s good to hear my plan worked. Moving on, does anything Dr. Foster is researching make sense to you?”

“Not even a little bit. I think I get where she’s going with the whole Thor thing, but I’m probably hazy on the specifics.”

“Aren’t you an astrophysics student?”

“No. I’m in a graduate program at Culver studying Political Science.”

“How the hell did you end up here then?” Clint asked surprised.

“She needed a graduate student and I needed out of Virginia. It seemed like a perfect match.”

“Why did you need out of Virginia?”

“I just get restless. I don’t like staying in one place for very long and moving across the country to do something completely new sounded like an adventure so I jumped at it.”

“I get that. Staying in one place for too long makes me antsy. I’ve disappeared more than once because my assignment was taking too long. It drives Coulson batty. It’s the best.”

“I take it he’s a bit uptight?”

“Very. But quit distracting me… I still have one question left. You asked so now it’s my turn. Do you have a significant other?”

“Nope.”

Clint smiled. “That’s what I was hoping to hear.”

“And what does that mean?” Darcy asked, color flooding her cheeks.

“Pretty much exactly what you think it means.” And he leaned in, resting his forehead on hers.

Darcy closed her eyes, her breathing became ragged as her heart started to race. Clint was close enough she could feel his breath on her lips. Cautiously, she put her a hand on his upper arm just as he tipped his head forward and kissed her. They moved slowly, a heat building between them. Felling brave, or maybe stupid, Darcy bit his lip and Clint’s hummed in back of his throat. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close until the length of her body was pushed up against his. What could have been years later (by Darcy’s estimation) a car door slammed and brought them back to the present. Clint’s eyes jumped open, alert to the new arrivals.

Thor and Jane stood directly below them talking. They moved toward the ladder, clearly on their way up to the roof they believed to be vacant. Clint tensed and looked at Darcy.

“We have to move. I’m under strict orders to stay hidden. Thor can’t see me.”

“What do you propose we do? They’re coming up the ladder right now. We can’t just jump.”

“Fair point.” He jumped up, grabbing Darcy’s hand and pulling her to her feet. “Follow me.”

They edged around the roof until they couldn’t see the ladder, crouching to stay out of sight. Clint kept hold of Darcy’s hand, threading his fingers through hers. She leaned her forehead onto the back of his shoulder wondering how she’d gotten herself stuck on the roof with a guy she hardly knew. After a few minutes he squeezed her hand, dragging her forward toward the ladder. Thor and Jane had settled by the fire pit and seemed completely lost in conversation. As quietly as they could, Clint and Darcy climbed down the ladder and ducked behind Selvig’s trailer.

“That was unfortunate timing.” Clint quipped.

“Tell me about it. We gonna hit resume or…” Darcy asked.

“As much as I want to Coulson’s expecting a report and I was supposed to be back an hour ago. There’s a lot going on this week and I probably shouldn’t push him. This is like the worst time ever for me to start feeling responsible.”

“Here,” Darcy said, pulling out a piece of paper, “Agent Stick-Up-His-Butt didn’t get my phone earlier. Text me.” She scribbled down her phone number and shoved it into his hand.

“Deal.” Clint said, smiling. He leaned down and kissed her again, this time much more urgent than before and pulled away far too soon in Darcy’s opinion. “Laterz.” He winked and turned the corner before Darcy could register what he said. She headed back to her trailer desperately wishing Thor and Jane had figured out somewhere else to have their gab session.

* * *

  
She woke up the next morning to her phone buzzing. She grabbed it and opened the text from a number she didn’t recognize.

_Time to get up, Sleeping Beauty. Thor is making you all breakfast._

_Sleep is better than eggs. Thx for waking me up, jerk._

_Any time. Go get me some bacon. You can bring it to me on the roof._

_You’re a ninja. Can’t you just sneak in when no one is looking?_

_I never said I was a ninja, sweet cheeks._

_MORE BACON FOR ME!_

Her phone buzzed again but she ignored it. Messing with Clint was becoming the most interesting part of New Mexico. She dressed quickly and ducked inside the building. Thor was busying himself at the hot plate, Selvig and Jane at the table. Darcy plunked down next to Selvig and poured herself a cup of coffee. No one spoke but Darcy could feel the tension in the room. Selvig looked like he got hit by a bus and kept throwing cutting loots at Jane from across the table. Jane was focused on the floor. Thor on the other hand was humming to himself. If she didn’t fully expect Selvig to go off like an A-bomb, Darcy would have laughed.

A minute or so later Thor walked over and set the eggs down on the table, no bacon.

“Thanks,” Darcy said.

“You’re welcome.” Thor replied, seating himself next to Jane.

Darcy’s phone went off again, buzzing against her pocket. She pulled it out, three unopened texts waited for her.

_You should never deprive a man of bacon. That’s dangerous territory, missy._

_There isn’t even bacon! What kind of self respecting dude makes breakfast and only makes eggs!!_

_This silent treatment is so not my favorite, Darce. Do I need to come down there and blow my cover?_

Darcy smirked at her phone screen. Clearly ignoring Clint was the way to get his attention.

_Don’t blow your cover, bird brain. ;) I want to keep sneaking around._

_I have all sorts of ideas about that._

_Wanna share?_

_You’ll find out soon enough._

In the middle of typing her response, Darcy’s phone went off again.

_Three incoming. They’re headed strait for the Smith building. They look like they’re dressed for the Renaissance fair. Don’t move. I’m going to check it out._

Almost simultaneously the others stood up and start to clear the table. Darcy hesitated for a second, stood up, and walked over to the sink. Looking up at Thor she took the plate out of his hand.

“You cooked. I’ll clean up.” She said.

Thor turned back to Jane just as the door opened and three of the strangest dressed people Darcy had ever seen walked in. Darcy stared, Selvig crossed his arms over his chest, and Jane dropped a plate; it shattered. Thor looked momentarily confused and then broke into a smile.

“My friends!” He ran across the room and enthusiastically greeted the three strangers.

“I don’t believe it…” Selvig mumbled to Darcy’s left.

“Who are they?” Darcy asked.

“Lady Sif and the Warrior Three! Surely you’ve heard the tales of Hogun the Grim, Fandral the Dashing, andI, Volstagg the Svelte?”

Not a word of that made sense to Darcy; Thor and his friends kept talking, the volume growing louder every second.

“Thor… your father still lives.” The girl, Sif Darcy guessed, said to Thor.

“Impossible. Loki visited me less than a day ago to tell me. Mother has forbidden my return.”

“The All-Father sleeps, nothing more,” said Sif.

“We all know Loki twists the truth. But we can deal with him after we return to Asgard. Come, we are wasting time,” one of the others said.

Jane started across the room toward Thor. “Are you really going to leave?”

“Aye, I must. If the All-Father only sleeps and Loki means to rule Asgard in his stead… I have a responsibility to my people. Odin may have banished me but my brothers lies cannot go unquestioned.”

Thor hugged Jane and turned toward the door, the other three close behind. Just as they reached the street an explosion from the edge of town caught their attention and the streets began to fill with people.

“Leave this town now. Get yourself and your friends to safety!” Thor yelled over his shoulder, heading toward the end of the street.

“What about you?” Jane yelled back.

“I have to stay and fight,” he replied. Turning toward his friends he said, “I am still a warrior, and I will fight by your side.”

“But you’re a mortal now. You’ll get yourself killed!” One of the others shouted back.

“The best thing you can do is get the mortals to safety and leave the fighting to us,” said Sif.

“You’re right,” Thor said, turning back to Jane. The four of them (Jane, Darcy, Selvig, and Thor) started clearing the street just as an enormous suit of armor turned the corner and started started blasting the town apart. It hit the pet store, everything was on fire. Darcy had a mini panic attack thinking of all the puppies inside. She darted across the street, into the store, and started pulling puppies out of their cages. She had her hands full and turned toward the door when she knocked into someone. Big hands grasped her shoulder, steadying her.

“Whoa there, Darce. Lemme help.” Clint said.

“Just grab as many as you can. Where do we go from here?”

“There’s a SHIELD van parked out front. Toss them in the back and then we can get them out of here.”

Darcy ran back out onto the street, threw open the van doors, and placed the puppies in the back. Clint wasn’t too far behind her, making it out just before the beam over the door collapsed.

“How many did we get out?” Darcy asked, trying to keep her voice level.

“Most of them. I think I missed a gerbil but I can’t be sure.” Clint said, He reached out, placing his arm over her shoulders. “You did your best, Darce. It’s ok.”

Darcy turned her face into Clint’s shoulder, steeling herself.

“I know,” she mumbled into his sleeve.

Clint grabbed her wrist and pulled her down an alleyway away from the battle.

“Stay put. I’m going to try and find some high ground and see if I can help. Don’t go back out there. You did what you could and it’s too risky.” He leaned down and kissed her quickly before turning around and disappearing around the corner.

“Like hell I’m staying here.” Darcy said to herself. She poked her head around the corner looking for Clint and couldn’t find him. She ran across the road and back over to Main Street, just in time to see Jane, Selvig, and Thor get blasted back from the Smith building. Thor and Jane stood up, but Darcy couldn’t see Selvig. She could hear Jane yell “Erik!” from across the street and dashed over to try and pull him out of the rubble.

Thor appeared out of nowhere a second later and dumped what looked like sand onto Selvig’s chest. He turns back toward the armor just as Sif was knocked back.

“What did he just do?” Darcy asked Jane.

“I have no idea, but look,” She pointed at Selvig’s chest. His shirt was tattered and bloody but no trace, not even a scar, was left behind from the wound that should have been there.

“I’m really starting to like him,” Selvig said.

Behind them Thor started yelling. He had his face turned up toward the sky and yelled, almost like he was praying.

“ Brother... for whatever I have done to wrong you, whatever I have done to lead you to do this, I am sorry. But these people have done nothing to you. They are innocents.” He started walking toward the armor, “Take my life, and know that I will never return to Asgard.” He reached the armor, extending his arm out as if to shake hands.

The armor hesitated before swinging its hand back and swatting Thor back across the street. He landed a few feet from where Jane, Selvig, and Darcy stood and Jane tried to run out to help him. Selvig grabbed her from behind and pulled her into the building.

“There’s nothing you can do, Jane. We have to get out of here.”

The armor leaned over Thor’s limp body, clearly going for the kill. Darcy watched on helplessly, wondering where Clint was, when out of nowhere an enormous bolt of lightning hit the armor, blasting it back.

When the dust settled, Thor was standing, a hammer in one hand, covered in armor Darcy had never seen before.

“Oh. My. God,” said Jane.

For all the chaos the armor had created, Thor was able to disable it quite easily. As it shuttered to the ground, the world went quiet. Darcy hadn’t realized how loud everything had gotten.  
A very battered Agent I-know-best-don’t-ask-questions appeared out of no where, flanked by a bunch of scary, beefy guys in black suits and Clint.

“Donald… I don’t think you’ve been completely honest with me.” Agent Coulson said, the agents at his side laughed.

Thor, the Warriors Three, Lady Sif, and the entire SHIELD outfit headed into the Smith building, Jane and Selvig on their heels. Darcy hung back, not really sure she wanted to be a part of whatever was going on in there. Instead she headed over to the SHIELD van filled with puppies. She crawled in, situating herself in the middle and let them crawl all over her. It should have been amazing… But after a day of alien attacks, renaissance warriors appearing from no where, and Clint saving a bunch of puppies, it didn’t register. Clint showed up a few minutes later and dropped down next to her.

“Hey, you. You ok?” he asked, nudging her.

Darcy cleared her throat and dropped her head on Clint’s shoulder. “Um, sure? That all was just a lot to handle.”

“You can say that again.” He wrapped his arm around her waist and dropped his head on hers. “Thor’s leaving. Want to come say goodbye?”

“Where’s he going? This is going to kill Jane.”

“He said he has to go back to Asgard and deal with his psycho brother. But he said he’d come back. Jane probably won’t even notice he’s gone. He promised to show her how the bridge works.”

“How is this even real life…" she sighed, "Can I ask you one more question before we abandon the puppies?”

“Totally against the rules, but I’ll allow it.”

“Where are you going after here? I’m probably going to have to go back to Culver and finish my program; Jane’s obviously gotten all the answers she’d ever wanted and more… I’m just curious where this super secret government agency is going to make you disappear to now that alien gods aren’t disturbing New Mexico.”

“I wish I could tell you. And not just because it’s probably going to be classified, but because I don’t know. Coulson’s my handler and he’ll get our next assignment after we report back into HQ and debrief. Sometimes they make me wait around for a mission, other times the turn around is so quick I don’t have time to do my laundry.”

“Well that sucks.”

Clint kissed her on the temple, “You bet it does. But I know how to get to Virginia and you seem more than capable of texting. We haven’t exactly talked about anything but… I’d be interested in seeing you again, if you wanted.”

“Um, yes please.” she said, looking up at him.

He looked down at her and she pounced. The kiss didn’t last long; Jane had appeared outside the Smith building, calling Darcy’s name.

“Darce?! We need to go. Thor want’s a ride back to the bridge and he says we don’t have any time."

Darcy sighed against Clint’s chest and heaved herself up. “Stay here. I’ll distract her and then you can ninja yourself out of the van."

“Yes, ma’am.” Clint said, saluting her.

Darcy jumped out and walked over to Jane. “K, I’m ready. Let’s go take Mr. Space-alien to his departure gate.”

Jane laughed and they all piled in her van, SHIELD following in their intimidating black SUV's.

* * *

 

The ride back into the desert was long, cramped, and hot. Darcy some how managed to get herself stuck between two of the Warriors Three. The smell was unbelievable. But fortunately the drive wasn't long and, before she knew it, it was time to say goodbye. 

They all piled out of the van. SHIELD formed a semi circle not too far off and Darcy started to feel awkward. 

“So, how can you speak our language?” she asked the Warriors Three, trying to break the tension.

“Your language! Ha! Silly girl, you are speaking ours.”

“I am, in no way, surprised by that.” She mumbled to herself.

Thor said his goodbyes to Coulson, making sure Jane was promised her equipment and research back. He seemed a bit guilty about it; almost like it was entirely his fault it had been taken in the first place. Then he grabbed Jane and "said" one of the most enthusiastic goodbye's Darcy'd ever seen. He promised he'd come back but that Jane couldn't put her life on hold. Jane agreed that there was no way to know if time moved the same in Asgard as it did on Earth and it would be a waste of time to stay in New Mexico anymore. She mentioned Denver in passing and Thor promised he would find her, where ever she went. 

Just like the day they met, Thor started yelling up at the sky and within a few minutes the rainbow bridge (as Selvig had called it) showed up and the Asgardian's disappeared. 

They got back to town just before the sun set. SHIELD met them at the Smith building and helped account for everything they’d taken. Coulson supplied Jane with an itemized list of everything they took just incase something was misplaced. Feeling nosy, Darcy scanned through it to see if anything had been taken she hadn’t noticed yet. A tidy scrawl at the top of the last page caught her eye. _Missing iPod._

Jane had the SHIELD agents load everything back in her van. "I have some research that makes me want to check out east of Denver. The electromagnetic signatures we were picking up here have been causing problems out by the Denver airport. I want to document all the places we can that are associated with the bridge. I think it's time to go to Colorado.” Jane turned to Darcy. “What do you think?”

“I’m all in.” She said, hardly taking the time to think it through.

Darcy pulled out her phone and sent a quick text;

_Jane want’s to go to Denver. Looks like I’m not going back east after all! Any word on you?_

_Negatory, Ghost Rider. But I’ll keep you updated… If that’s what you want._

_Of course I do. You better text me or there will be consequences._

_Yes ma'am ;)_


End file.
